7.23 - Dainty Little Alchemist
Theo yawned as he woke from the Dreamwalk. He saw little use in gaining many more levels and had instead been focusing on expanding his abilities outside the context of levels lately. But he still managed to push himself to level 34 in both his alchemy and herbalist cores, which caused his personal level to grow as well, although he still wasn't sure what he was going to do with it. With a shrug, he placed his free point into Strength. It was the only attribute he had less than a hundred, aside from Intelligence, and he dared not push that further than 30.
Breakfast was a simple meal of sausage and eggs. He was grateful that his new body could process so much fat without causing a horrible heart condition. Or perhaps it did, and he was simply unaware. Tresk seemed overly excited about something today, although she wouldn't tell him what it was. He thought it was because their Tara’hek core had risen to level 39 and would likely reach 40 any day. That would provide them with another skill or an evolution of an existing skill—that was pretty fun.
Just as Theo was preparing to spend his day working on his new properties, he groaned. The bell outside sounded, and he reflexively pulled up his tactical map of the town. He didn't see any overflowing dungeons, and there was no note of monsters escaping from the negative dungeons. That didn't stop Tresk from immediately teleporting away to figure out what was going on.
Instead of rushing up from his chair and joining her, he simply watched the events unfold through her eyes. Aarok was assembling the troops, not as a defensive action, but as an offensive one.
"Looks like we're going to be forced into the dungeons," Theo said, finishing the last of his sausages and leaving a bit of egg.
"Are we actually going to fight something today?" Sarisa asked, with an exasperated sigh. "I haven't been able to kill a monster in quite some time."
Theo lingered at the table for quite some time, not expecting to be drawn into whatever offensive action was unfolding. When a message flashed through the administrative interface, the alchemist gawked. Of all people, he was the one summoned to the battle. He was being pulled against his will.
"I'm the town's dainty little alchemist," Theo said, folding his arms. "I'm not supposed to go and fight."
"First off, we're a city now," Sarisa said.